Trolley-shield.



J. W. BROWN 6.1.0. W. JENKINS.

.TROLLEY SHIELD.

APPLIOATIO'N FILED APRQzQ, 1905,'

. INI; 'l :l Juil...

PATENTEDMAR. 27,1906.

s nNrrRn STATES 1 PATENT OFFICE JOHN w. BRowN AND cHARLES'w. JENKINS,Aoli-WASHINGTON, DISTRICT v `or COLUMBIA..

TFicaLLEY-SHIEI D.`

CHARLES W. JENKINS, citizens. of the United States, residing atWashington, in the Dis-- trict of Columbia, have invented certain newand useful ImprovementsfinTrolley-Shields, of which the following isaspecication.

This invention relates to4 trolleys forover-v head electric railways.

Meanshave been provided in various forms for guiding the trolley tocause it to: engage under the wire, the trolley being upwardly actuatedand held in engagement .with the wire .by means of springs'having anupward tendency and of a strengthvto lift the trolley with considerableforce and to a considerable distance above the wire. When the trolleyis'thus lifted, it must be pulled down to a position below the wire andthen guided while impelled upward by the spring to cause it to againengage under `the wire. Usually the trolley is drawn downward by hand bypull ing upon a rope leading from the trolley or the pole near thetrolley to a position within easy reach of the conductor or motor'man;but there has also been provided a device known as a retrieven whichissecured uponthe car and to which the rope is atingthe operation ofretrieving, either manutachedsuch device being brought into action toautomatically draw down'or retrieve the trolley when the trolley Slipsoff the wire and is carriedv above the wire by its spring. Durally orautomatcally, the lower edge ofthe trolley-wheel is liable. to catchover the wire and ride thereon, with the result of catching the crosssupporting-wires and breaking down the line.

It is the principal obj ect of this invention to provide improved meansfor attachment to the trolley whereby such engagement of thetrolley-wheel upon the top of the wire is rendered impossible and allliability ofbreaking down or otherwise damaging the line is entirelyobviated. v

' It is well known that in winter when the wire andv trolley-wheelbecome coated with icegperfect electrical contact is'` impossible.V Toremedy this, railway employees 'sometimes remove the wheel of thetrolley, so as to cause a rubbing or scraping contact between the wireand the pivotal pinv or shaft of the wheel and the throat oftheyoke-space in the trolley-harp, whereby the ice is scraped fspeeiacation lof Letters patent. VApplicationfiled April 29, 1905iSerial No. 258,070.`

Patented March 27, 19,06.

offV thev wire and` two points of rubbing or scraping contact with thewire provided, thusovercoming to someextent this great difficulty. Eventhis: makeshift does not always `accomplish the .object sought, and afurther kconsists in the, improved construction7 arrangement, andcombination'of parts hereinafter fully described, and afterward.specific-l ally'pointed out inthe appended claims.

In order tov enable others skilledin the art to'make and use theinvention, its construction and operation will now lbe speciiicallydescribed in connection with the accompanyin drawings, in which- .igurel is a view in side elevation of a trol!- ley and' part of the poleprovided with our improvements, the trolleyv being represented inoperative contact with the wire. alongitudinal. verticaly sectional viewkof the same, the wire and pole being shown in elevar tion. Fig. 4Slis-avertical' transverse sectional Fig. 2 is` view on the. plane indicatedby the broken line 3. 3 of Fig. 2. Fig. 4 is a view in.l elevaparts inall of the' figures of the drawings.

Referring specifically to the drawings, -1 indicates the trolle pole,upon the end of which is secured t e trolley-harp 2, made in yoke form,in the end of which is placed the trolley-wheel 3', the harp having atubular Stemvwhich is slipped upon the end of the pole 1 and secured'thereon by means of a bolt or rivet 4 and the trolley-wheel beingjourlnaledy upon a. pin or shaft 5, which passes i through thewheel andthrough the jaw of the harp and issecured in position by means of pins 6passing through the shaft and wholly or partiallythrough. the jaws ofthe harp.

In carrying out our invention. no change p whatever is made in eitherthe. pole l harp 2, .or wheel'8, and but very slight changes are made inthe boltfori rivety 4 and pivot-pin or shaft 5, as will fully appearhereinafter.

7 indicates whatwe denominate a shield,

which may be cast of malleable or cast iron or forged or stamped up ofwrought-iron in either bar or block form or in the form of heavysheet-iron. The shield 7 comprises a pair of arms 8 8, which are securedupon the ends of the shaft 5, said shaft being madeslightly longer thanusual and having the usual rounded ends. At the outer or rear end of theshield 7 the arms 8 8 merge into a single piece or block, as at 10, agroove 11 being provided in the top thereof in line with the pole 1 andwith the wire 12, which groove may, if desired, be lined with a steelbearingplate, as at 13. The main body 14 of the shield is preferablytriangular in cross-section and extends in a gradual sweep or curveforward under the wheel and harp until it reaches the under side of thetubular stem of the harp, to which and the pole it is secured by meansof the bolt or rivet 4, which, as before explained, secures the harpupon the trolleypole. From the point where the mainbody 14 strikes theharp to its forward end the shield is trough-shaped or grooved in itsupper surface to partially embrace the stem of the harp, to which it issecured, as stated. The lower face of the main body 14 of the shield isV- shaped, `and the only change made in the construction of the bolt orrivet 4 is to make its head 15 conform in shape with the shield, so asto avoid the presence of projecting square or sharp corners, such headbeing clearly illustrated in Figs. 1, 2, and 5. The outer edges ofthetriangular body 14 of the shield are preferably flush with the arms 8 8and project outward far enough, as clearly shown in Figs. 1, 2, and 4,to extend slightly beyond the sides of the wheel. A hole is provided at16 through the shield, through which passes the retrieving-rope 17, therope being prevented from pulling through the hole 16 by a knot 18 inits upper'end and its lower end being conducted either to a positionwithin easy reach of the conductor or secured to the automatic retrieverwhen one is used.

When the trolley is above the wire and is drawn downward, the only partwhich can strike the'wire is the V-shaped body of the shield, which willcause the trolley to pass down at the side of the wire, the rounded ends9 of the shaft of the trolley-wheel preventing the pin from catching onthe wire, so that there is no possibility of the lower edge of the wheelcatching on the top of the wire, and thus causing the breaking down ofthe line. f

The relative position of the parts is such when the trolley-wheel isremoved on account of ice that the groove 11 in the end of the shield,the wheel-shaft 5, and the throat of the harp at 19 are all in one line,as shown in Figs. 1 and 2, whereby three rubbing or scraping points ofcontact with the wire are provided, and the ice and snow are morethoroughly scraped 0E to alord the necessary electrical contact, and nosnow or icc can lodge in the shield on account of its open sides.

The shield may be provided with a plurality of holes to accommodate thebolt or rivet 4, one extra one being shown in Figs. 1 and 2.

By providing a slightly longer shaft 5 and a bolt or rivet 4 with asuitable head the shield may be readily and quickly secured in placeupon either new trolleys or trolleys in use without any change whateverin the constructions of pole, harp, and wheel now in use.

Having thus fully described our invention,

- what we claim as new, and desire to secure byv Letters Patent of theUnited States, is-

1. A trolley-shield comprisin a main body which, when secured to the troley, rests under the wheel, and means adapted to engage the ends of thetrolley-wheel shaft whereby the body of the shield may be supportedtherefrom, substantially as described.

2. A trolley-shield comprising a main body adapted, when in position onthe trolley, to rest under the wheel, suitable means for supporting therear end of the shield, and means for securing the forward end of theshield to the pole, substantially as described.

3. A trolley-shield, comprising a curved triangular-shaped main body,adapted to rest below and extend beyond the lower edge of the wheel andpartially embrace the stem of the harp and provided at its rear end witha pair of forwardly-extending arms to embrace the upper end of the harp,said body being provided with an opening to receive the bolt or rivetwhich secures the trolleypole and harp together, and said arms beingprovided with openings to register with those of the wheel and harp toreceive the shaft of the wheel, substantially as described.

4. The combination with a trolley-pole, a harp thereon and atrolley-wheel, of a trolleyshield located below the wheel and harp andsecured by a bolt or rivet which secures the pole and harp together,said shield being further provided with arms embracing the outer end ofthe harp and secured in position by the pin or shaft of the wheel,substantially as described.

5. The combination with a trolley-pole, a harp thereon and atrolley-wheel, of a trolleyshield located below the wheel and harp andsecured by a bolt or rivet which secures the pole and harp together,said shield being further provided with arms embracing the outer end ofthe harp and secured in position by the pin or shaft of the wheel, saidshield having a V-shaped lower face and said bolt or rivet having acorrespondingly-shaped head, and the wheel-shaft having rounded ends,substantially as described.

6. The combination with a trolley-pole, a harp, a wheel-shaft, and atrolley-wheel thereon, of a shield secured below the wheel and h arp andhaving a groove at its rear end in line with the Wheel-shaft and thethroat of the harp When the Wheel is removed and the shaft isin contactwith the Wire, substantially as described. 4

7. The combination with a trolley-pole, a

trolley-harp having a tubular stem engaged onthe end of the pole, atrolley-Wheel, a bolt or rivet securing t e tubular stem ofthe harp uponthe pole, and a shaftv throughthe Wheel and harp, of a trolley-shieldcomprising a pair of arms embracing the harp, secured upon theWheel-shaft, extended rearward and merged into a block, and a main bodytriangular-shaped in that part extending in a ole through Which ispassed the retrievingrope, substantially as described. In testimonywhereof We aELX our slgnatures 1n presence of tWoWitnesses.

JOHN W. BROWN. I CHARLES W. JENKINS.

Witnesses:

S. BRASHEARS, p GEO. H. LUscoMBE.

